Dr Sunitha Krishnan awarded India Vision person of the year award

Kochi: Social activist, chief functionary and co-founder of ‘Prajwala’, Sunitha Krishnan was elected as the India Vision Person of the year 2011 award. Sunitha Narayan works in the areas of as anti-human trafficking, psychiatric rehabilitation and social policy. Her organization Prajwala is the respite and shelter to women and girls who were mercilessly sold in the flesh market. Sunitha Krishnan born to RAju Krishnan and Nalini Krishnan in 1972 hails from Palakkad. while studying in Bangalore she became the victim of a gang rape. Rising from trauma she became the lone warrior against women trafficking and flesh trade. Prajwala has rescued more than 7,500 women and children from the clutches of flesh traders.

Prajwala’s “second-generation” prevention program operates in 17 transition centers and has served thousands of children of prostituted mothers. The NGO’s strategy is to remove women from brothels by giving their children education and career opportunities. Krishnan and her staff train survivors in carpentry, welding, printing, masonry and housekeeping. She admitted that rescuing girls is never a very safe business, sharing that she can no longer hear out of her right ear, and that she has been beaten up during interventions more than a dozen times.

The jury headed by MT Vasudevan Nair unanimously declared Sunitha Narayan as the winner of the India Vision Person of the year. The award consists of one lakh rupee cash award and citation.